had that last year up bay of islands, the local guys at the pub said without a doubt, it would be the commercial guy who works out of therewho thinks that he owns the place.

Seems to be an international problem although the problem here in Perth WA is not the comm boys it's the amateurs who think it is their right to either steal your pots or pull them and remove the crays before you do. We have in the order of 60K recreational crayfishing licences sold each year in WA and peak time is around November each year. It is chaos at boat ramps prior to Xmas but Fisheries Officers do a great job with all kinds of surveillance and there are always offenders boats confiscated. Unfortunately there are still many who are all too willing to steal.